#MNVMUG DebateFlash Storage Decision Methodology
Keith NorbieDirector of Virtualization, Server, Storage - East
[email protected]@keithnorbie
SATA HDD typical read IOPS = 80
Flash SSD typical read IOPS = 30,000
375x
For comparison
Typical walking speed = 3 mph
Speed of sound = 761 mph
Felix Baumgartner free-fall = 834 mph
“only” 278x
Flash is fast – but we already knew that
*Slide courtesy of Justin Lauer, Tintri
Interesting effect towards Moore’s Law…
What’s an architecture bound by? CPU, Network, Disk, Flash, Cache destaging, etc.
But…. Did you know the 2nd fastest Computer in the world has no Flash?
Beyond Hype: Get Informed
Get Informed
• Flash as a technology
• Differentiation
• Categories
• Efficiencies
Prepare Decision Criteria
• Financial
• Political
• Operational
• Technical
• Vendor Background
Flash Storage ElementalNeed to Know•Wearing•Inherently random access•How is writes•Garbage Collection•Raid? Hot Spares?
Types of Flash•MLC•eMLC•SLC
Use Cases•Read Acceleration•VDI•Database•Parts of HPC
VM Affinity•Storage Blender•Writes mis-alignment•Read Cache•VSAN•Horizon Suite•Guest based vs Kernel based
Architectural•DAS – PCIe, SSD•Network Accelerators•Shared – PCIe, SSD, memory•AFA•Hybrid
Level Set on Flash
Things to know about Flash• Cells wear out
• Different flavors
• It fails differently than disk
• Writes are expensive, reads are free
• Inherently random access
• Flash Translation Layer (FTL)
• What is Garbage collection?
• Raid types? Hot Spares?
• Wear leveling is important
“Server-ization” of Storage
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Shareability High Capacity High Availability Centralized Storage Management
Capacity Tier
Performance Tier
Data far away from Applications Inadequate Performance Poor utilization & Inefficiency High Costs
Performance Tier
DRAM PCIe
SERVER
APPLICATION DATA
Breakthrough PCIe Flash Architecture
Why Server Side is Faster
9
DRAM
HBASwitch
es
ENTERPRISE STORAGESTORAGE NETWORKSERVER
APPLICATION DATA
RAID
HDD/SDD
Legacy Storage Architecture
• Increased Performance
• Higher Resource Utilization
• Lower costs
• Less Complexity
• Improved Data Service
Data Delivery: MILLISECONDS
Data Delivery: MICROSECONDS
Anyone know of any Flash Vendors?
Classifications and Form Factors
SDN
JBODFlash
Flash in the Storage ModelsModels defined - virtualgeek.typepad.com
Distributed, Shared NothingTightly Coupled, Scale Out
Loosely Coupled, Scale OutClustered
XtremIOVMaxHDS USP & VSPIBM DS
IsilonVSANScaleIONutanixSimplivity
Most TraditionalPureTintriNetApp FASVNX
“Object Storage”ATMOSHadoopOpenStack SwiftCoho – sort of
So… Kernel mode or Guest mode
So… Kernel mode or Guest modeSource: frankdenneman.nl & Nutanix Bible
Flash & Software Defined Storage?
Hybrid systems marry flash and disk to deliver the best of both
All Flash or Hybrid?
Net Results
All Flash w/Reduce
10Uinstalled
(based on market-leading modular array using 300 GB 15k disks achieving a sustained 200,000 IOPs)
280Uinstalled
Traditional Storage
Example | Web 2.0 Infrastructure
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Decision Criteria Shaping
Scalability• Out• Up• Capac
ity• Perfor
mance
Efficiency• Dedu
pe• H
ow granular?
• Inline or post?
• Thin Provision? Why?
Flash Technology• Wear
leveling past 5 years?
• Workload Management• How
does it handle workloads?
• Snapshots, Replication
• Brand of NAND, type?
Affinity • VMw
are• App
optimization
• VDI
Fault Tolerance• What
happens with a hardware failure during a write?• C
ell, drive, node, controller, etc
• Caching/Tiering during HA event?
Vendor Strength• Fiscal• Leadershi
p• Momentu
m• Reference
s, Case Studies
• Use Cases
Security• Do
you support encryption?
Ease of Manage-ability• Single
pane for PB’s?
• Software Defined?
• Automation
Financial• ROI/
TCO?• Justifi
cation?
Questions?Thanks!
Keith NorbieDirector of Virtualization, Server, Storage - East
[email protected]@keithnorbie
